Supporting 3 campuses, 2,000 staff and 25,000 students, requires secure, reliable and scalable IT infrastructure. Who does the University of Southern Queensland turn to for its central data centre?
The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has experienced significant growth and in 2009 identified the need for a new data centre to centrally process information for their Toowoomba, Fraser Coast, and Springfield campuses.
To support a demanding 24/7 IT load the university needed a secure data centre, containing modular and scalable power infrastructure for consistent delivery of critical energy and a cooling system with built in redundancy to avoid a build up of heat around its IT systems.
The Rittal IT system allows us modular expansion, therefore, we can grow easily as our needs change. It is a complete package.
To meet these needs USQ commissioned Rittal and partner Powerfirm to build a Rittal Efficiency Room. This facility protects critical IT assets and information against fire, vandalism, water, debris and theft. The fire rating of the room protects the internal environment for a maximum increase of 50 degrees Kelvin and 85% relative humidity in the event of a fire.
One of the key reasons for choosing the Rittal Efficiency Room is its modular and scalable nature. As USQ’s data processing requirements grow, so can their security room without the need for welding or grinding around sensitive IT systems.
Within the Rittal Efficiency Room, USQ chose to install a Rittal data centre solution. The Rittal system comprises five integrated components: racks, power, cooling, security, and remote monitoring.
The transformerless, modular 200kW UPS system ensures the highest level of energy efficiency whilst providing consistent power, eliminating the peaks and troughs associated with standard power delivery. The UPS design even allows for adding or removing power modules without switching to mains supply, thus protecting the existing installed equipment.
For load balancing and external monitoring, USQ chose Rittal’s intelligent 3-phase power rails. These rails have built-in redundancy so each one provides the features and protection of two traditional rails.
The choice for cooling was made simple for USQ. Rittal’s LCP (Liquid Cooling Package) T3 is unique to the market featuring a dual interlaced coil, providing up to 25kW of cooling. In the event of a water circuit failure, the auto balancing of the T3 will automatically ramp the secondary circuit to cool the required load.
The T3 also features two power supplies for redundancy in the event of a power outage. Therefore, the USQ data centre is always chilled to the optimum temperature regardless of the power conditions.
Despite a budgeted build of fourteen days, Rittal’s certified installation team was able to build the Rittal Efficiency Room in just seven days. USQ experienced no down time or interruptions to their existing data centre operations as the old legacy infrastructure was decommissioned, and the Rittal solution was installed.
“The project was completed within budget. For us, the Rittal Room was easier to construct than a building using bricks and mortar. And from my point of view the Rittal Data Centre solution allows us modular expansion, therefore, we can grow easily as our needs change. It is a complete package”, said Richard A. Young USQ’s Data Centre Operations Manager